


A Perfect Canvas

by birdsongblue



Series: The Tot Years [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 02:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5273834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdsongblue/pseuds/birdsongblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikey decides to experiment with art while Raph is out with Splinter. </p><p>Or, in other words, Mikey paints Spike's shell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Perfect Canvas

Mikey giggled as he painted another tiny flower on Spike's shell. The turtle was asleep, and Raph was out with Splinter. He swirled his brush in the cup of water to wash out the blue before dipping it in the small splotch of red paint. 

He carefully traced along the pattern of Spike's shell, outlining the small pentagons. He added more flowers inside the bright red lines. Suddenly, a loud gasp of dismay made Mikey turn his head. 

Donnie was standing in the doorway to Raph's room, his eyes huge in horror. "Mikey, w-what?" Mikey grinned and added some lightning bolts to the sides of the small turtles shell. 

"I'm just making him look cooler. Hey, what if I painted a race number right in the middle?" 

Donnie made a choked noise and backed away. "I don't want to have anything to do with this." 

He watched, horrified as Mikey painted a white circle in the center of Spike's shell and added the number 53. 

Donnie shook his head in remorse, thinking of the unfortunate fate of his younger brother. "He's going to kill you, you know." 

Mikey scoffed. "No, Raph loves Herbie! Oh, now I need to paint some hearts, cause' Herbie's a love bug."

Distantly, Donnie heard Splinter's voice echo through the lair as the remaining family returned from their scavenging run. "Uh, good luck with the whole getting killed thing, cause I'm not going to be here when Raph finds you." 

Don ran off to his lab as quickly as he could and peeked out the door as his older brothers passed. 

He breathed a sigh of relief as Raph and Leo turned into the living room, away from the staircase. After a minute, the low sound of the television clicked on and Donnie emerged from the lab. He silently went up the stairs and back to Raph's room. 

Mikey looked back to the door from his position, where he was painting furiously. Panic flitted across his face, but faded as he realized that the person at the doorway wasn't Raph. 

"Hold on Donnie, I'm almost done!" He hissed. Donnie shook his head. "No, you're done now. Let's get you cleaned up." 

He yanked Mikey away from his so called art project and gathered up the paint carefully. "You. Go to my lab, now." Mikey reluctantly left and snuck down the stairs, careful to avoid the living room. 

Donnie eyed Raph's sleeping pet ruefully. "Raph is going to be so mad..."

He left the room and shut the door before going to his lab. As he shut the door behind him, Mikey shot past him on Donnie's desk chair. "Haha, I can see why you like this chair! It spins, and it rolls!"

Donnie sighed and set the paints down on his lab table. "Mikey, come over to the sink, you are going to get paint on my chair." 

Mikey pushed at the floor with his toes and wheeled over to the small sink. The chair gave out a loud squeak as Mikey leaned his weight backwards and tipped. 

"Mikey!" Donnie rushed forward as time seemed to slow down. Mikey's eyes widened and his arms pinwheeled as the chair toppled back. Just as Donnie was a few feet away, the chair smacked on the floor, sending Mikey sliding off the back. 

"Oww..." Donnie clasped his younger brother's arms and pulled him up. "Mikey, how many times have I told you that you need to be careful on my chair?" 

Donnie pulled his hands back and grimaced as they came away sticky with paint. As he pulled Mikey over to the sink and wet a rag, Mikey thought about the previous question. 

"Well," he said. "You got the chair like 3 months ago, so I would say you told me to be careful...a lot." Donnie rolled his eyes as he rung out the warm rag and scrubbed at Mikey's arms and hands. 

"Duh Mikey. Of course it was a lot." Donnie's tongue pushed past his lips as he rinsed the rag out and attacked the paint on his brother again. 

"You even have some on your legs!" he exclaimed. "How do you manage to get paint all over yourself, but not on any furniture?" 

Donnie looked at his tipped over chair, surprised to find that it had no paint on it. Mikey shrugged and smiled. "Well, at least I didn't leave any paint on Raph's stuff." 

"Yeah, just on his pet. Which he is scarily protective of." Donnie folded the cloth and wiped off a stray dot of red paint from Mikey's cheek. 

Suddenly, an animalistic roar filled the lair and the two youngest siblings flinched hard. Donnie quickly pulled away from Mikey and put some distance between them. 

"I am NOT going to get pulled into this!" Donnie picked up his chair and wheeled it out of the way, knowing that he needed to have a clear space for when Raph arrived. 

"MIKEEEYYY!!!" The youngest turtle's eyes widened and he turned to Donnie pleadingly. "You have to help me! I didn't know he'd be this mad!" 

Donnie raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Mikey, you were the one who thought it would be a good idea to paint Spike." 

Suddenly the door burst open to reveal a snarling, white eyed Raphael. 

Mikey gulped. "Heh, hey R-Raph..." he stuttered shakily. He glanced at the small turtle that was perched on his brother's shoulder quickly. 

The red banded turtle focused his feral gaze on Mikey and spoke in a harsh voice. "You...painted...on...SPIKE!?" 

Mikey flinched and took a step back as his brother growled out the accusation. 

"Uh, yeah actually...but doesn't he look cooler now?" Raph trembled in fury and gently set the turtle on Donnie's table before turning and tackling Mikey to the ground. 

"AAAH! RAPH, STOOP!" Donnie watched as the two of them tumbled on the floor, Mikey trying to escape and Raph trying to pummel him. 

Suddenly, Leo peeked in. "What the heck is going on in here?" His eyes landed on Raph, who had managed to pin Mikey down and was pulling back his fist. 

"Raph!" Leo sprinted over and gripped his brother's wrist tightly, pulling it back. Raph strained against the hold briefly before merely throwing the other fist. 

Before it could hit it's target, a well trained hand found its way under Raph's jaw and pressed until Raph's arms fell limp. 

Leo let go of his brother and eyed Splinter. "What is going on here?" their father asked loudly, pulling Raphael off of a trembling Michelangelo. 

Donnie answered quickly from the corner he was pressed in. "Mikey painted Spike's shell." 

Splinter sighed and drew his hand back from the pressure point. Raph hissed and stood back on his own feet while Splinter spoke. 

"Michelangelo, apologize to your brother this instant. I know that we have discussed this." 

Mikey sat up and looked at Raph, who was glaring threateningly at him. 

"Sorry, Raph." He smiled nervously. 

"What are you sorry for?" Splinter prompted, still holding Raph who was not at all calm. 

"I'm sorry for painting Spike's shell." Splinter nodded and looked down at Raphael. "And you, Raphael? What do you say?" 

Raph deflated and sighed. "I'm sorry for trying to hit you. But I'm still angry." 

Splinter let go of Raph carefully, his hands hovering nearby his son in case he attacked again. "Very well. Michelangelo, you will be taking Raphael's chores for a week." 

The small turtle groaned at the punishment but relented, lying back on the ground. 

"And as for you Raphael, you will be spending an extra hour of meditation with me for the next week as well." 

Splinter looked over at Spike, curious to see what his son had painted. Raph saw his father glance over and picked up his pet carefully, examining the paint as well. 

"How do I get it off?" He asked, looking up at his father. Splinter gently ran a finger over the dried paint stuck to Spike's shell. "I would suggest a bath. Soap will get most of it off." 

Donnie walked over to them, stepping over Mikey who was still sprawled out on the floor. "I have a scrub brush that should help. I think it will all come off." 

Raph nodded and carried Spike out of the room while Donnie looked for the scrub brush. Raph flipped on the list in the bathroom and set Spike down on the counter while he ran the water. 

He rubbed Spike's shell gently with his finger as the sink filled up. "It's okay, I will get that stupid paint off." 

"Just make sure to keep his head out of the water." Donnie came into the bathroom and held out the soft bristled brush he found. "The paint is probably bad for him, I don't want him to ingest it." 

Raph nodded and shut the water off, testing the depth before lowering spike into the sink. Donnie sat down on the edge of the tub as Raph squirted some soap on his palm and rubbed it onto Spike's shell. 

"You know Mikey wasn't trying to hurt Spike, right?" Raph grunted in response to Donatello's question. Donnie swing his legs back and forth as he thought. 

"Mikey would never hurt Spike on purpose. He wanted you to think his painting was cool." 

Raph cupped his hand and brought up some water to spill over Spike's shell. "Well, he could have used a paper or something," he scoffed as he peeled away some paint that flecked off into the water. 

With a sigh, Donnie agreed. "He might have just wanted your attention, he really wasn't thinking you'd be mad. He wasn't acting like he was trying to make you angry. A little irritated maybe, but not angry." 

Raph picked up the scrub brush and ran it over Spike's shell, his thumb keeping the small head above the water as it turned a dirty purple. "Well, maybe he should just ask instead of bugging me all the time." 

"Well, he has asked in the past and it never worked," Donnie chuckled. "Then he figured out that bugging you did the trick..." 

Raph pulled Spike out of the water and set him on a towel while he drained the stained water. "Oh." He absentmindedly peeled at the remaining flecks of paint as he filled the sink with clean water. 

He set Spike back in the sink and scrubbed harder at the paint until it was all gone. "There, good as new!" Raph lifted the wet turtle and wrapped him in a dry towel. 

"Thanks for the brush Donnie," Raph said as he left the room. "I'm just going to go put Spike under the heat lamp for a while so he doesn't get too cold." 

Donnie waved to his brother before looking disappointedly at the counter. It was covered in flecks of paint and water, as well as a stained and sopping towel. "Thanks for cleaning up, Raph." 

He sighed and started the process by wringing the towel out into the sink.


End file.
